Until fairly recently, cellular telephone networks were implemented and managed separately from wireless networks (e.g., wireless local area networks “WLANs”, Wi-Fi™ hot spots, etc.). There were a number of reasons why these two networking platforms were initially implemented and managed separately. For instance, mobile network operators typically were unable to leverage existing resources (e.g. hardware, software, personnel, etc.) to support both cellular services and wireless services. The resources needed for supporting transmissions over a cellular band are quite different from resources needed to support transmissions over a wireless frequency band. Furthermore, the fiscal benefits in supporting multiple types of communication services were not present at that time.
Recently, however, there has been a proliferation of dual-mode devices into the consumer marketplace. Dual-mode devices enable Internet connectivity through different communication services, namely cellular services and wireless services. This provides consumers with greater flexibility in downloading data according to a selected characteristic—cost effectiveness, fastest download rate or most reliable connection.
With the proliferation of dual-mode devices, mobile network operators have begun to recognize the operational benefits in providing multiple avenues to offload certain data traffic as well as the fiscal benefits that are realized by supporting higher levels of data traffic. For instance, mobile network operators are able to lease excess capacity on their underlying physical networks to multiple entities through wireless virtualization. “Wireless virtualization” refers to the running of multiple virtual networks which are leased to mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) by the mobile network operator (MNO), the entity owning the underlying physical network.
Wireless virtualization is an approach where underlying physical network interfaces are abstracted by more than one virtual interface, which enables better sharing of the physical interface and the medium used by the radio associated with that virtual interface. Virtualization usually involves the application of three fundamental concepts for sharing a resource: (1) abstraction, (2) programmability, and (3) isolation. “Abstraction” ensures that the same interface is available to all the virtual entities using the systems. “Programmability” ensures that each of the virtual interfaces is able to affect properties of the underlying physical interface without conflicting with the requirements of other virtual entities. Lastly, “isolation” is a property which ensures that the load on one virtual entity does not affect the other, and essentially, each of the virtual interfaces is able to work independent of each other.
Therefore, since networks are designed to provide access to different types of virtualized radio platforms, a mechanism is needed for supporting these different types of radios for achieving optimal revenue recovery and/or aggregated throughput.